This invention relates to determining the location of a mobile unit, such as a portable telephone, and evaluating a travel pattern as a function of related locations or at least one location as a function of time, and providing geographically relevant information based on the evaluation.
Portable telephones, particularly in the form of current cellular telephones, are well known. In addition, several companies have disclosed and are proceeding with plans for a network of low-orbiting satellites which will allow communication from portable telephones from almost anywhere in the world, without relying on the multiple call regions or xe2x80x9ccellsxe2x80x9d in a cellular telephone system. Portable devices which allow a user to determine their location particularly based on various satellite positioning systems, are also now known. Such systems are generally referred to as Global Positioning Systems (xe2x80x9cGPSxe2x80x9d). These systems use signals from a series of satellites which allow a portable receiver (i.e. a GPS receiver) on earth to determine its position with a fairly high degree of accuracy.
It has also been known to provide user""s of portable location devices with geographically relevant information based on the user""s current location. In particular, U.S. Pat. No. 5,948,040 provides travelers having a portable location device with information concerning their immediate needs for travel information or arrangements (for example: reservations and/or entitlement to a discount for the next meal at a roadside eating place or lodgings for the night ahead; current information about goods/services available nearby and/or up ahead along the user""s intended or predicted route of travel). Such information is obviously helpful to travelers and has the potential to bring in one-time customers who happen to be passing near a merchant of goods or services (such as hotels, restaurants, and the like).
The invention of the present application realizes that merchants would like to be able to identify potential customers who :might frequently repeatedly be in a particular geographic situation (such as repeatedly traveling near the same business while commuting to and from work). This would enable a number of advantages. For example, merchants could offer special incentives such as volume discounts to such potential customers. Further, it would be worthwhile to invest advertising money to repeatedly target such potential customers with advertising in the hope that over time, they would avail themselves of the merchant""s business. Also, since such a potential customer is in the same particular geographic situation, there is an increased chance for an impulse purchase if they have been repeatedly targeted with advertising. For example, it would be worthwhile to known that an individual commutes to and from work past a coffee shop in the morning so as to repeatedly target that individual with advertising relating to that coffee shop. It would also be desirable if any means for tracking an individual""s repeated travel patterns was relatively simple and did not facilitate overly intrusive tracking of an individual""s location.
The present invention then, provides in one aspect a method of providing geographically relevant promotional information to a predefined location associated with a mobile unit having a transmitter. This aspect may typically be executed at a central base station. The method includes receiving from the mobile unit, at least one transmission which provides information on multiple locations of the mobile unit over a span of time, and an identification of the mobile unit. For example, multiple transmissions which do not themselves carry location information may be received and locations determined by triangulation. Alternatively, the received multiple transmissions may actually carry location information themselves, or a single transmission could be received which carries the multiple location information (such as recorded at the mobile unit over time, then transmitted together). A repeated travel pattern of the mobile unit is determined based on the multiple locations. A promotional identification or information is retrieved from a database of such identifications or information, and provided to the predefined location based at least in part, on the repeated travel pattern. For example, when the repeated travel pattern exhibits an attribute of a predetermined rule associated with a particular promotional identification or information that promotional identification or information is retrieved. Such predetermined rule may, for example, be provided to the database in association with the promotional identification or information. An example of such a rule may be any portable unit user who repeatedly is within a specified distance of a specified location within a specified time frame, or not at a specified location within a specified time frame. In a particular aspect, a promotional identification or information which is associated with a location which is within a predetermined position relative to the repeated travel pattern, is retrieved from a database of locations associated with respective promotional identifications. The retrieved promotional identification or promotion information based on the promotional identification, is provided to the location.
The received transmissions from the mobile unit may carry the location information (for example, as a result of the mobile unit having a position locator which provides such information), or the location information can be determined by some other means based on the received signal (for example, by triangulation). As to the predefined location, this can be any location such as the mobile unit operator""s residence or stationary telephone number, or the mobile unit itself. In the case of the residential address, the promotional identification or information can be, for example, printed material which is mailed or otherwise delivered to the operator""s residence. In the case where the predefined location is the mobile unit itself, the promotional identification or information can be, for example, information transmitted to the mobile unit (when the mobile unit also includes a receiver). Other predefined locations are possible (such as the identification of a different mobile unit, for example, a portable computer).
The promotional identification or information can be provided to the predefined location based solely on the determined travel pattern or such travel pattern and additional criteria. For example, the promotional identification or information may be actually provided to the mobile unit in response to a received location information transmission indicating the mobile unit is within a predetermined position relative to the location associated with the promotional identification. This can be used, for example, when it is known from the pattern that an operator passes near a given merchant every day, but the merchant has decided that the most effective advertising in that situation would best be delivered every day as the operator passes near the business. An alternative criterion additionally involves receiving from the mobile unit, further multiple location information transmissions over a span of time and an identification of the mobile unit. Form such received additional location information it may be determined that the mobile unit is in the process of currently repeating the previously identified travel pattern, following which the promotional identification or information is transmitted to the mobile unit. When the determined travel pattern has been coordinated with respect to time, this can also be used as a criterion on which to determine when to provide particular promotional identification or information. For example, when it has previously been determined that the operator leaves his residence every day about the same time to go to work, this may be a good time to transmit certain types of promotional information to the operator at the mobile unit. To identify which type of promotional information to send to the mobile unit at a given time, reference may be made to the previously mentioned database when the promotional identifications in the database are also associated with respective time features. The promotional identification may be retrieved additionally based on an overlap of a time feature of the determined travel pattern and the time feature associated with the promotional identification (for example, the times features can be overlapping time ranges or can be particular times which are the same.
Alternatively to the foregoing, promotional identification or information can be provided to the predefined location based on criteria which may not include the determined travel pattern. For example, when the travel pattern has been determined a corresponding time feature for at least one portion of the repeated travel pattern may also be determined. As above, the time feature may be an absolute or relative time, or can be a fixed time or a time range. A promotional identification can be retrieved from a database of time features associated with respective promotional identifications, which is associated with a time feature which overlaps the determined time feature of the repeated travel pattern. Such an approach is useful where, for example, a merchant only wants to know where the operator is not located at a given time (for example, the operator is not home every morning).
The present invention also provides a mobile unit which can transmit multiple location information. Such a mobile telephone includes a position locator which can determine the location of the mobile telephone and generate a corresponding location signal, and a transmitter. The mobile telephone optionally also includes a processor which causes multiple determined locations of the mobile telephone to be transmitted in accordance with a predetermined rule. For example, the multiple locations are transmitted or saved into a memory on the telephone for later transmission, at preselected time periods (for example, a time period within a day for each of multiple preselected days) or only when a predetermined variation in location has been sensed by the position locator. In the case where such multiple location information is saved into the memory, the processor may cause the information to be transmitted at a predetermined fixed or relative time, or this may be done manually by an operator at their convenience.
The foregoing mobile unit may particularly be a mobile telephone which in addition to a transmitter may also include a receiver which receives an incoming call signal. In this case, a user interface may be provided which has an audio or visual user output device which can reproduce audio or visual information in an incoming call signal as a corresponding audio or visual display. The user interface also includes an audio or visual user input device which generates an audio or visual output signal corresponding to live audio or visual input, and may optionally further include a keypad or other device (for example, touch sensitive screen) by which a user""s instructions (including selection of options or numbers) can be entered into the mobile telephone. The transmitter in such a mobile telephone then, is capable of transmitting the audio output signal.
A mobile telephone is also provided by the present invention which screens location requests based on predetermined requirements. In particular, such a mobile telephone is capable of a background location transmission response. Such a mobile telephone may include a position locator, a receiver, and a user interface as previously described. An alert generator, in response to a received incoming call signal, generates a first physical characteristic to indicate an incoming call to a user of the mobile telephone (for example, a typical phone xe2x80x9cringingxe2x80x9d sound). A location request detector, in response to a received location request signal, can direct the location request signal to the position locator without activating the alert generator. A transmitter transmits a location signal generated by the position locator in response to a received location request signal, and also transmits the audio output signal. A processor allows a location signal to be transmitted only if the incoming location request signal meets at least one predetermined requirement. For example, the incoming location request signal carries an identification such as a calling telephone number identification corresponding to a preselected identification which might be selected through the user interface, such as a keypad. Other alternative or additional predetermined requirements may include a predetermined time range (for example, when an operator only wishes his location to be revealed between 6 AM and 8 PM).
An apparatus which may be the base station, is also provided by the present invention. Such an apparatus includes the receiver, a processor to execute the steps of a method at the base station, and a database of locations associated with respective promotional identifications. A printer may also be included and when the predefined location is a fixed location, the promotional identification or information is printed by the printer. Alternatively or additionally, the base station may include a transmitter, and the predefined location may be the location of the mobile unit with the promotional identification or information being transmitted by the transmitter to the mobile unit.
The present invention further provides a method which can be executed at a mobile telephone as described above. The method includes determining multiple locations of the mobile telephone under control of a processor in accordance with a predetermined rule, such as at preselected times or location variations, and generating corresponding location signals (or alternatively, continuously). These multiple location signals can then be transmitted (for example, to the base station). Such transmissions can occur as the location information is acquired, or the locations signals can be saved in a memory and transmitted at a later time. In the case where the location signals are saved, they can be later transmitted in response to a user command, a command from a remote location (such as from the base station), or under control of the processor in accordance with a predetermined rule.
An additional aspect of a method of the present invention provides a method for use with a mobile telephone having a user interface such as described above. This aspect may include comparing location request signals against at least one predetermined criterion, and transmitting from the mobile telephone location signals carrying location information on the mobile telephone in response to only those location request signals which meet at least one predetermined criterion. The predetermined criterion may be, for example, an identification (such as a caller ID or a code provided by a location requester) carried by the incoming location request signal being within a list of one or more predetermined identifications. The comparing can be performed at various locations, such as on the mobile telephone (in which case the predetermined criteria can be entered into the mobile telephone by the user through the user interface) or at a central station (in which case the predetermined criteria can previously have been entered into the mobile telephone by the user through the user interface, and transmitted to the central station for storage in a memory there).
It will be appreciated that the apparatus and methods of the present invention can be, or be used with, other than a mobile telephone. Accordingly, a xe2x80x9cmobile telephonexe2x80x9d can be replaced in any of the descriptions throughout this application, with xe2x80x9cmobile unitxe2x80x9d. For example, any mobile unit which provides some means of locating it and some means of providing that information to a base station, can be used. Such another mobile unit may include, for example, one which has: a user interface (such as a portable computer) or does not have a user interface (such as a very simple pager receiver). The locating means to provide multiple locations over time may, for example, may simply be a transmitter where the base station has some apparatus, such as multiple receivers to provide triangulation, to determine location from a received transmission. However, a location detector on the mobile unit is preferred since methods such as triangulation, tend to be difficult to implement in practice with many mobile units such as mobile telephones. The means of providing that location information may be a transmitter, which functions as previously described. However, particularly where the multiple locations are saved in a memory on the mobile unit, such means may be an interface (for example, a modem or network circuit and port) which allows the mobile unit device to communicate such information to a base station. Alternatively, particularly where the memory is removable it may simply be physically transported (such as by mailing or a user dropping it off there) to the base station for retrieval of the multiple location data.
The present invention may provide any one or more of the following or other advantages. Merchants are able to identify potential customers who might frequently repeatedly be in a particular geographic situation (such as repeatedly passing near the merchant""s business while commuting to work every day). An individual""s repeated travel patterns can be tracked in a relatively simple manner that does not facilitate overly intrusive tracking of an individual""s location.